Softeners and sizing agents are typified as fiber product treating agents for general domestic use. The softeners serve to soften fiber products such as clothes to make these fiber products have soft and comfortable finish. The sizing agents serve to give tenseness to fiber products to make these fiber products have comfortable feel near to that of new products to the touch. These softeners and sizing agents are each used in proper way according to user's preferences and the type of fiber product to be applied. However, there is a current tendency that finished feel obtained by a softener is preferred to that obtained by a sizing agent and the demand for sizing agents tend to be decreased year by year. This is considered to be because there is a tendency not to prefer rough feel and starchy feel obtained by a sizing agent. On the other hand, there is a present situation where the preference of users cannot be satisfied by only the soft finish obtained by a softener for the diversified types of clothes. In view of this situation, there is a strong demand for a treating agent that gives fiber products a finished feel to the touch which has not been accomplished by a softener or sizing agent alone, specifically, such finished feel as tensile feel, no starchy feel and smooth feel to the touch.
Also, another reason why the sizing agent is not preferred is that it requires a lot of time and effort for treatment. In the use of a conventional sizing agent, it is preferred to sort fiber products into those treated with a sizing agent and those treated without a sizing agent during a washing process and time and effort are required for the sorting. Also, usual sizing agent bases are all film-formable, and when an automatic charge port of a washing machine is used, a high-molecular compound of the sizing agent base adheres to the charge port and significantly spoils the appearance of the washing machine. Therefore, it is general to avoid the use of the automatic charge port. When a user charges a sizing agent, it is necessary that he charges it by hand and chooses the timing of charge, which requires considerable time and effort. It is therefore desired to develop a treating agent that requires no sorting operation and permits the use of the automatic charge port without any particular problem.
Moreover, when clothes such as shirts and polo-shirts are washed, washing wrinkles are formed through washing/rinsing/dewatering/drying and in the case of particularly, clothes containing cellulose type fibers such as cotton, wrinkles are formed to the extent that these clothes cannot be worn if omitting the pressing of these wrinkled clothes. Also, a shirt or the like that has been treated to stabilize its shape has been recently spread. However, these products lose its shape-stabilizing effect when they are worn/washed repeatedly and therefore do not reach the stage in which ironing is omitted. However, because this ironing is among troublesome housework, there is a strong desire to develop a method making it possible to remove wrinkles simply to the extent that clothes can be worn without ironing.
The inventors of the present invention disclosed treating agents that contain a water-soluble high-molecular compound, a silicone compound and a nonionic surfactant and restore the original shape and feel of clothes in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) Nos. 2000-129577, 2000-129578 and 2000-239970.
Also, fiber product treating agents containing a quaternary ammonium compound, a silicone compound and a nonionic surfactant as softener components are disclosed in JP-A Nos. 2000-64179, 2000-110068, 2000-110077, 2001-172878 and 2002-371474.
Besides the above prior art, JP-A Nos. 2001-49582, 2001-192973, 2002-80603, 8-209543, 10-131054 and 11-343402 disclose technologies using a nonionic surfactant as an emulsifier of a silicone compound.